Birmingham City striker Garry O’Connor has been given the nod to replace crocked Kevin Kyle in the Scotland squad for the must-win World Cup qualifiers with Macedonia and Holland.

Kyle, who had won his first national call-up for five years, withdrew from the squad over the weekend after undergoing knee surgery on the cartilage he injured in Kilmarnock’s Co-operative Insurance Cup win against Morton.

26-year-old O’Connor, who started his career at Hibernian, has also come in from the wilderness after winning the last of his 15 caps as a substitute against Ukraine at Hampden in October.

O’Connor has scored four goals for Scotland but has failed to find the back of the net so far this season for the Blues.